Do I need 4K?

paule23

Established Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2016
Messages
83
Reaction score
14
Points
16
Age
49
Location
Glasgow
Everyone seems to promote 4K as the must have in all TVs. But I’m wondering if it really makes a difference at the size/distance I view.

I’m looking at a 43/49 inch TV, for 4K the Sony 8096 or 9505, in HD the WG663. I’m only 6-7 feet away from the screen when viewing so is there really benefit in paying an extra £3-500 to get 4K?
 
Everyone seems to promote 4K as the must have in all TVs. But I’m wondering if it really makes a difference at the size/distance I view.

I’m looking at a 43/49 inch TV, for 4K the Sony 8096 or 9505, in HD the WG663. I’m only 6-7 feet away from the screen when viewing so is there really benefit in paying an extra £3-500 to get 4K?
Me? I wouldn't bother. Save your money.
 
Could you please expand on that with a why? I understood the human eye cannot make out the resolution difference at that screen size/distance.
Ok, 4K is 4x sharper, no fuzziness, it’s as clear as daylight, did you notice a difference between sd & hd? Well 4k is way beyond that
 
Yes
 
At that size of screen and your viewing distance, the resolution bump won't be overly noticeable.

The biggest change with 4K is HDR, even at larger screen sizes it's more of a benefit than the 4K. The thing is TVs that can do HDR well are significantly more expensive than cheaper ones. You're looking at a Sony 49XH9505, that's the starting point for good HDR.

However, unless you plan on taking advantage of that using UHD discs, 4K Netflix, Prime etc then it's a bit pointless if you have a decent TV already.
Also if you watch a lot of SD TV and DVDs, they're going to look worse.
 
As said above, unless you're going to feed the TV 4k content it may end up looking worse.
The step up to 4k, in my eyes, was not as obvious as the step from SD to HD, so unless you're moving up in size keep your money in your pocket.
 
It would be helpful to know what content the OP views for a start.
This is a really good point, something I had not really thought about. I don’t view a low of 4K content. I mostly watch Netflix and Amazon Prime, a few HD movies. A lot of the content will be whatever the streaming service provides, but unlikely to be 4K.

seems to be sending more to the HD end and saving a few pennies.
 
A lot of the content will be whatever the streaming service provides, but unlikely to be 4K.

There's loads of 4K content on both of them. All Amazon original series are 4K, there's even more on Netflix if you subscribe to a 4K package.
 
If you are going to subscribe to the services that provide 4K and HDR then it's definitely worth it. But go for the best and largest screen you can. With this in mind go for the XH95 as this can actually provide you with true HDR. Most televisions have HDR on the side of the box, but that's as far as it goes in terms of their abilities to actually produce HDR. Some people say they can't notice the difference, my wife and daughter are examples or this, but I can definitely tell the difference immediately.

The top end televisions are also very good at upscaling, for example we watched the Matrix via Amazon last week in SDR and the television upscaled to what I would call very good HD.
 
the reason HD to 4K doesn't seem a big step up is that 4K TVs can upscale HD pretty well. So going from a HD TV to 4K TV just for watching HD content is worth doing (and Sony TVs are pretty good at upscaling). However, if you are going to watch mainly SD content then it will look worse on a 4K TV.
 
How is your eyesight? If it's not great then you might not benefit. My eyesight is perfect (when I have my glasses in lol) and I just got a 4k tv this week, sony 55 8096. It is mint!! as long your eyesight is good then go for it!

Plus unless you get a 4k telly then you will probably not be looking at tvs with good features besides definition, such as operating system, apps etc.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom